


Brooding

by Scentsationalhands



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 10:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11251545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scentsationalhands/pseuds/Scentsationalhands
Summary: This was meant to be a one shot of an alternate meeting between Felicity and Oliver. No island AU.





	Brooding

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a one shot of an alternate meeting between Felicity and Oliver. No island AU. It turned into 3 parts coming from different perspectives.  
> This was a plot bunny that got away from me so no time to send it to a beta- all mistakes are mine.

He was brooding. He always seemed to be brooding. He transferred into the 8 month accelerated MBA course Midway through the second class, which she didn't even think was possible, and he never said a damn thing. He just sat in the corner, brooding under his green hoodie. She hadn't even seen his face or heard his voice in the week he had been in the class. He was a mystery and it bugged her. She didn't have time to figure out a mystery right now.

Felicity Smoak, IT girl extrodinaire, was already multitasking too much to set aside brain space for this mysterious interloper.

She was a full time student at MIT, finishing her double masters (plus this night program for her 3rd masters all at once) and therefore taking almost 3 times the recommended classes at once. In addition to that she had 2 jobs and an internship.

One job was stupid easy, working at the front desk of the MIT student center and Gym, the 5am shift. Ok, so not easy because who gets up that early?? But also, who gets up that early? Which meant no one was ever there and she got almost all her homework done during those 3 hour shifts required for her work study grant. And bonus, the student cafe cart was literally 16 steps from her desk and Jarett, the poor soul with the morning shift always tried out new lattes and gave them to her as a tester. Free coffee is a perk she would never turn down.

Second job was mundane, but at least in her feild, and gave her the ability to play with new tech. On Mondays and Wednesdays she left straight from the student center to the local Tech Villiage to be tech support. Not the glamour job she wanted in a big tech company, but it fed her and gave her a decent discount when she needed parts for whatever projects she was working on. Plus, it gave her plenty of practice removing viruses while she wrote her own codes, which she could do when the store was slow.

The internship wasn't ideal, but it certainly had perks.  
Perk #1- it was an internship but she was basically in charge of the IT for the offices because she had the most experience.  
Perk #2- Most of the security issues really only happened around time for admissions, people trying to hack in to get accepted, so during her heaviest course loads it was pretty easy work. Plus, let's face it, the kids trying to cheat for admission couldn't hack their way out of a paper bag and those who could afford a decent hacker could probably just make a donation to get in anyway.  
Perk #3- Getting to stay in Cambridge for the internship (unlike the ones offered at tech companies) so she gets to stay in her bitchen off campus apartment. Which incidentally, she can afford because of the other 2 jobs.  
The icing on the cake, perk #4- the internship is at Harvard. Because she is the most skilled, yet it is supposed to be an internship with a small budget, the school offered her admittance into their night school MBA program as compensation. The downside to this perk was it was an accelerated program, that started the week before Thanksgiving, and missing class wasn't just frowned upon, but would get you kicked out of the program.  
Being the week before Thanksgiving, she didn't get to go home for the break, or for Hannukah. Plus side, her mom couldn't complain, because hello, HARVARD business degree for free!

Thus, she has been working her ass off for months now on this program, has already seen several class mates flunk out, and then the new guy showed up. 

She tried to ignore him, but the constant brooding was IMPOSSIBLE to ignore. And even if she could make sense of the brooding, because hello, this is a Harvard MBA in 8 months, what is there to brood about?? She is still confused about his timing. 

".... Class dismissed" 

'Great' she thought to herself with a huff, 'i missed half the lecture and there is a test Monday, studying this weekend will go smoothly...' Her inner snark truly was undeniable.

Heading into class Monday  
She gave herself a pep talk: focus on Business finance and not Broody-mc-brooderson.

When the test was handed out and she couldn't sense his brooding from the corner, she smiled to herself and began. When someone walked in late she couldn't help the urge to glance over her shoulder at them, and she noticed he still wasn't there.

When she dropped her pen 5 minutes later and noticed he still hasn't shown, she could feel the steam building up in her head, ready to explode out of her ears. She is TRYING to focus on business finance and not broody-mc-brooderson and she can't because he's not even frakking here!

Who starts class in the middle of the course, shows up for a week, and then ditches? Who has the time or money to waste on HARVARD?  
"Ms. Smoak?"  
"Huh, what... I mean, uh, yes professor Stein?"  
"Your thinking out loud again," he bent down and whispered conspiratorially, "the last time you did that half the class got a free pass to cheat off of you, let's not repeat that." He stood back upright with a wink.  
"Yes, of course professor, I'll just stop talking in 3... 2... 1. There no talking... No more talking. Yeah, starting now."  
She cupped her hands over her mouth, bright red face hidden now.

With one last glance to the empty seat in the corner of the room, and a mostly silent grumble, Felicity got back to her test, ignoring the chuckles and staring from her fellow classmates.

\-------

It had been 2 weeks since the master of brooding had disappeared. Now there was another new student in the class. Isobel Rochev. Aparently she had done her undergrad at Stanford and her internship at QC. She just finished her internship and from what she gathered, (read: read in the file she hacked while working at her internship) the HR department from QC paid for her to get into the program and receive credit for the classes she had already missed through the experience with their company and a competency test.

She had to admit, even though the woman was young and pretty, she looked pretty pissed off despite her luck in life. The opportunity to work someplace like Queen Consolidated, on the executive floor and therefore getting to be influincing the future of technology was definitely a blessed life. Ok, Felicity Smoak was officially jealous and she could admit it to herself.

Just as she had finally gotten over the mystery of brood-master-flex, Isobel had shown up last Thursday, another distraction. At least hacking the file Friday morning had only taken a few minutes and now instead of being distracted Felicity was intimidated. Sure, they could have a mutually beneficial friendship, study buddies for the program and inside tips on QC, but that would require talking to the woman in question. With her tendency to produce word vomit at the most inoportune moments, she seriously doubted that would happen anytime soon.

Between midterms at MIT, the system crashing at Tech village this morning, and the snow keeping the roads closed (so everyone on Campus had to come to Jarrett for coffee, making the student center extremely busy this morning), she missed him slipping in and sitting in the corner.

She was so tired she was barely staying awake throughout the lecture- chewing on her red pen while typing on her tablet- only using the pen to mark up her book when Professor Stein suggested the info would be on the final.

As class ended she took a moment to put away her beloved tablet and grab her phone. Out of the corner of her eye she cought a glimpse of green. Broody-mc-brooderson was back. And of course, the man was mute the entire week he had been in class before, but now he seems to be chatting up Isobel no problem, and oh those eyes! Those eyes and that chiseled jaw should be illegal. Especially when you add to the general secrecy and broodiness. Ok, now he's smiling and is it possible to go blind from the gorgeousness?

With all these added details and the 3 week old unsolved mystery, Felicity had enough. She needed to figure this man out. She was Felicity Smoak, she hacked the department of education at 17, she was not going to be stumped by this enigma of a man.

Building up all her confidence she figured she could deal with 2 birds with 1 stone. As long as you consider solving mysteries and making connections with intimidating classmates birds and probably a horrifyingly embarrassing conversation a stone. Well, here goes nothing...


End file.
